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Darvish Proves Critics Wrong

If this is the Yu Darvish that the Cubs had hoped would show up when they signed him, then I guess fans will have to accept it. Yesterday, the Cubs beat the Brewers 3-2 and Darvish was good even though he didn’t get the win.

“I thought he worked the mental game extremely well,” Maddon said of Darvish. “He was right on with everything. He developed a great routine. Pitchers with that special kind of ability, you just get out of your zone somehow and you need to be reminded about a couple things. I promise you, he keeps doing that, look out.”

Ok, to be fair and I really don’t have experience being the highest paid player in the room, but it must be incredible difficult with all the pressure placed on him to succeed. I’ve been a critic myself but who knows? Perhaps management saw something in him that we don’t see.

“[Maddon] really takes care of me,” Darvish said through his interpreter. “He thinks a lot about me. In today’s outing, there was a similar situation as in the previous game. Because I spoke with Joe, I was able to overcome it and kept going.

“He talked [in Cleveland] about not worrying about the previous pitch or what happened in the past, and concentrate on the pitch I was going to throw,” Darvish said. “Basically, it was, ‘Don’t worry about what happened in the past.'”

That’s exactly what he has to do. Yesterday, after a shaky start, he turned it around and garnered eight strikeouts. That’s impressive. My theory is that he’s been used to the LA sunshine and Texas heat. Once it gets warm in Chicago, Darvish will start rolling.

It’s funny that the Cubs rotation has been their undoing this season. High expectations were placed on the pitching and, in fact, it was going to be their saving grace but so far it’s been the hitting that’s really worked well.

“Regardless of where I am, no matter where I’m at, I hear the supporting fans,” Darvish said. “That really cheers me up.”

Both Hendricks and Darvish were consistent in their games and that’s a great sign of things to come.